THE NEW YORKER, OCTOBER 17, 2016
71
The state of emergency that he declared
after the coup gave him dictatorial
powers, which he used to carry out a
far-reaching crackdown that began with
Gülenists but has grown to encompass
almost anyone who might pose a threat
to his expanded authority. The figures
are stupefying: forty thousand people
detained and huge numbers of others
forced from their jobs, including twenty-
one thousand police o cers, three thou-
sand judges and prosecutors, twenty-
one thousand public-school workers,
fifteen hundred university deans, and
fifteen hundred employees of the Min-
istry of Finance. Six thousand soldiers
were detained. The government also
closed a thousand Gülen-a liated
schools and suspended twenty-one thou-
sand teachers.
It's di cult to know whether those
targeted were hard-core followers of
Gülen, or sympathizers, or not related
to the movement at all. Public criticism
of Erdoğan has been almost entirely
squelched, either by the outpouring of
national support that followed the coup
or by the fear of being imprisoned. Er-
doğan has closed more than a hundred
and thirty media outlets and detained
at least forty-three journalists, and the
purge is still under way. "The Gülenist
cult is a criminal organization, and a big
one," Kalin, the President's aide, told
me. "You know, over eleven thousand
people participated in the coup, accord-
ing to our current estimates. We're going
after anyone with any connection with
this Gülenist cult, here and there, in the
judiciary, the private sector, the news-
papers, and other places."
The irony of the attempted coup is
that Erdoğan has emerged stronger than
ever. The popular uprising that stopped
the plot was led in many cases by peo-
ple who disliked Erdoğan only margin-
ally less than they disliked the prospect
of a military regime. But the result has
been to set up Erdoğan and his party
to rule, with nearly absolute authority,
for as long as he wants. "Even before
the coup attempt, we had concerns that
the government and the President were
approaching politics and governance in
ways that were designed to lock in a
competitive advantage---to insure you
would have perpetual one-party rule,"
the second Western diplomat said.
Erdoğan has solidified his power, but
"I need something sturdy enough to withstand
the scrutiny of other parents."
••
he has also put himself in the awkward
position of denouncing a man who en-
abled his rise. Talking about Gülen and
his movement, he can seem almost to
be in pain. "They came asking for sev-
enteen universities, and I approved all
of them," he told a crowd in . "He
asked for land for schools, we gave it to
him," he added. "We gave them all kinds
of support."Erdoğan rarely spoke Gülen's
name in these speeches, but this time
he addressed him and his followers di-
rectly. "So this is treason?" he asked,
sounding dismayed. "What did you ask
for that you couldn't get?"
T the coup, Gülen
emerged from seclusion, summon-
ing reporters to his compound for a
press conference, at which he denied
any involvement. As he watched his fol-
lowers being arrested en masse---and as
he became a national pariah---an edge
crept into his voice. He told his follow-
ers that Erdoğan had staged the coup,
and that no one outside Turkey believed
that Gülen was responsible. In a ser-
mon recorded a few days later, he said,
"Let a bunch of idiots think they have
succeeded, let them celebrate, let them
declare their ridiculous situation a cel-
ebration, but the world is making fun
of this situation, and that is how it is
going to go down in the history books.
"Be patient," he told his followers.
"Victory will come."
Gülen is old and ailing; it seems un-
likely that he will be able to keep up
the fight for much longer. Listening to
his sermon, I thought back to my meet-
ing with him last year. Even then, his
movement was being dismantled, his
followers on the run. I asked how he
thought he would be remembered, and
he gave me an answer the like of which
I've never heard from another leader
in politics or religion. "It may sound
strange to you, but I wish to be forgot-
ten when I die," he said. "I wish my
grave not to be known. I wish to die
in solitude, with nobody actually be-
coming aware of my death and hence
nobody conducting my funeral prayer.
I wish that nobody remember me."